Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) today announced that Monty J. Bennett, Chief Executive Officer and President has relinquished the title of President and has promoted Douglas A. Kessler to fill the position of President. Since the Company's initial public offering in 2003, Mr. Kessler had been Chief Operating Officer and Head of Acquisitions. Mr. Bennett retains the title of Chief Executive Officer.
Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Bennett stated, 'Doug has been instrumental in every aspect of Ashford's growth. His management focus and leadership vision on transactions, capital markets, and investor relations optimizes Ashford's strategies. With his initiative and dedication to seek long term shareholder return, he has spearheaded virtually all of our key objectives including: numerous equity and preferred capital raises, property level and corporate debt facilities, as well as acquisitions including the $2.5 billion CNL transaction. His diverse real estate and corporate management capabilities contribute significantly to our internal management practices, seeking to be best in class. I look forward to continuing to work with Doug to move Ashford forward.'
In addition, the Company announced that David A. Brooks has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. Since the Company's initial public offering in 2003, Mr. Brooks had been Chief Legal Officer and Head of Transactions.
Mr. Bennett continued, 'The promotion of David to Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel recognizes his multidimensional capabilities. David engages in every phase of the Company's business, especially including the negotiation, structuring, and closing of transactions, and advises on all facets of the Company's strategies, corporate governance and legal concerns. His unique combination of business acumen and legal expertise greatly enhance Ashford's ability to achieve our strategic goals. David's command of the smallest detail to the broadest issue provides us with the expertise to implement our key strategies.'
Ashford currently has $185 million of free cash on hand, with a weighted-average cost of debt at 3.340%. Ashford has one hard debt maturity of $29M in 2009 and one hard debt maturity of $75M in 2010. All other debt maturities occur in 2011 and beyond.
Ashford Hospitality Trust is a self-administered real estate investment trust focused on investing in the hospitality industry across all segments and at all levels of the capital structure, including direct hotel investments, first mortgages, mezzanine loans and sale-leaseback transactions.
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